Dubai to monitor taxi speeds in road safety move

Dubai's transport authority has announced a new initiative to monitor speeds of taxi drivers in the emirate.

The Public Transport Agency at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said sensors are being fitted to taxi cabs in a bid to improve road safety.

The new initiative uses the AMAN system, which is a self-powered sensor for monitoring taxi speeds, the agency said in a statement.

"AMAN system is designed to provide complete control over the speed of taxis, which amount to 8,007 taxis distributed to five franchise companies linked to the system, in case drivers exceed the allowed speed limits in the Emirate," said Adel Shakeri, director of the Transportation System Department at RTA's Public Transport Agency.

He said the system grants only 60 seconds to the driver to reduce the speed to the allowable limit.

"In case the driver does not notice the grace period, the system gives an alert sound. In case of the driver's non-response, a ticket is to be issued for violating the allowed speed limits by taxis," he added.

The AMAN system also identifies the location where the speed violation occurred.

Shakeri said Dubai Taxi, Cars Taxi, Arabia Taxi, Metro Taxi, National Taxi, have all "expressed a considerable cooperation" to apply the system to their cars.